Date

1965 June

Creator

WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from June 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to an audience about the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) project. The clip's audio ... more

In this WSB newsfilm clip from June 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to an audience about the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) project. The clip's audio is inconsistent; comments may no be completely recorded. Dr. King emphasizes the connection between political and economic power and indicates the significance of SCOPE's plans to assist African Americans with voter registration. less

Rights

Courtesy of Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga. Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about the Summer Community Organization and Political Edu... more

Partner

Contributing Institution

On June 14, 1965, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) launched an innovative grassroots organizing campaign, the Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) project. Under the direction of WW II veteran Hosea Williams, SCOPE sought to build upon the momentum of the Medgar Evers led NAACP in Mississippi, 1964 Freedom Summer, as well as the voting rights stuggle that culminated in the Selma-Montgomery March. The project placed nearly five hundred predominantly white college students in nearly one hundred predominantly black rural and urban areas in Southern states, including: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to help lead voter registration drives.

SCOPE successfully encouraged political activism and reported violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, along with developing political education programs for some of the counties that the campaign served. Its voter registration drives also flourished: SCOPE volunteers, working with local activists and leaders, and SCLC field staff, registered more than 49,000 new African American voters by the project's official end date on August 28, 1965, with about thirty-five SCOPE volutneers taking positions on the SCLC staff with additional activities continuing in 1966.